1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine having a plurality of commodity storage chambers arranged side by side for dispensing beverages or foods. The vending machine employs a heating system and a refrigerating system so that the commodity storage chambers can be either heated or cooled individually.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In known automatic vending machines there are provided a plurality of vertical commodity storage chamber sections arranged in a side by side fashion as disclosed in Japanese patent publication, laid-open no. 5-334542 dated Dec. 17, 1993. In this vending machine, adjacent chamber sections can be partitioned off from each other by a removable one-piece thermally-insulating divider panel. By placing the divider panel at a location between selected adjacent chamber sections, two storage chambers, each consisting of one or more chamber sections, and thermally shielded from each other, can be formed side by side.
The same vending machine is equipped with a heating system and a refrigerating system so that the divided two storage chambers can be either heated or cooled individually, whereby the single vending machine can store and dispense both cold beverages and warm foods, for example.
It is further disclosed in the Japanese patent publication that a plurality of serpentine-type commodity storage racks are provided in each of the commodity storage chamber sections and a commodity take-out port is provided for each of the chamber sections.
Serpentine-type racks are widely used in prior known automatic vending machines. Each unit of the serpentine-type commodity racks, however, can carry only a single kind of commodity because all pieces of the commodity loaded on the same rack drop by own gravity through a zigzag path as the lowest piece of the commodity on the same rack is dispensed, one piece at a time.
Also known is an automatic vending machine having a plurality of vertically spaced commodity shelves. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,459 discloses a vending machine for dispensing particularly bottles and cans. This vending machine has a plurality of vertically spaced inclined shelves and an elevator commodity carrier that can pick up a commodity from a selected shelf and transport the commodity to a dispensing station at the top of the machine. This kind of automatic vending machine can store comparatively greater number of kinds of commodity per unit storage space as compared with a vending machine having serpentine-type commodity racks because each of the vertically spaced shelves can carry a different kind of commodity.
But this kind of vending machine must employ a complex commodity pick-up and transport mechanism, and a controller therefore, that is capable of receiving a commodity from any selected shelf and transporting it to the dispensing port of the vending machine.
If an automatic vending machine has a plurality of commodity storage chambers, which can be either heated or refrigerated individually, and vertically spaced commodity shelves in each of the commodity storage chambers, the vending machine would require a separate commodity pick-up and transport mechanism, such as a separate elevator commodity carrier for each of the commodity storage chambers, and a controller for operating the separate mechanisms.
A vending machine having separate commodity storage chambers that can be either heated or refrigerated, therefore, would need either serpentine-type commodity racks that can carry comparatively small number of kinds of commodity or units of vertically spaced commodity shelves that can carry greater number of kinds of commodity but requiring complicated commodity pick-up and transport mechanisms.